Frag has antennae?

touchstone88 · Apr 21, 2019

Hi There,
Is anyone familiar with what's happening to this SPS frag? Rather than a polyp at the end of two of the new (now shrunken) branches, there's this... black thing with two antennae? The frag itself is recovering, showing little PE at night. Despite its lack of color it has grown 1/4" in the past month. Are these some type of pest and if so- how do i treat? Can't find anything in research about this type of thing.

Any direction is much appreciated

Thanks!

ludnix · Apr 21, 2019

Perhaps a tube worm or barnacle? I'm sure if you clipped that branch off it would stop whatever it is. It doesnt seem to be causing harm though assuming its not the cause of your coral needing recovery. If the corals just came out of a stressful event I would wait to clip the hitchhiker until they are more recovered.

BranchingHammer · Apr 21, 2019

It is a vermatid snail, they can irritate corals but mostly sps...

touchstone88 · Apr 21, 2019

Do you two think supergluing the two afflicted tips would be successful? I have lugols and read some folks have applied just to the vermatid. Others talk about scraping them out then supergluing. A week or two ago i tried removing it with tweezers but it then spread to the bottom branch and caused the main branch to shrivel as it is now.
Would you two sooner opt for superglue or clipping the tip- and how much would i clip?

it looks too that the near branch shows 2 small antennae- they are spreading?
I have Revive, Dr. G's SPS dip, Lugols and some bone shears

BranchingHammer · Apr 21, 2019

I would super glue over the top of the holes, any other input?

DSC reef · Apr 21, 2019

Could be a coral barnacle but honestly it looks like typical tentacles that come from the coral when feeding, stressed, ect. I would leave it be. I don't see a seperate base indicating a vermetid, it's the coral itself so if you glue it then you will kill that part of the coral.

High ICP · Apr 21, 2019

I would kill it

Mike.P · Apr 21, 2019

DSC reef said:
Could be a coral barnacle but honestly it looks like typical tentacles that come from the coral when feeding, stressed, ect. I would leave it be. I don't see a seperate base indicating a vermetid, it's the coral itself so if you glue it then you will kill that part of the coral.

It looks like feeding tentacles to me as well... There would be more normally, but it could be missing them due to damage, defect, etc.

touchstone88 · Apr 21, 2019

Here's a pic through a 5x loupe. Sounds like general consensus is leave it be.
Thanks for the input folks, its much appreciated and I needed the peace of mind!

Mike P and DSC- you mean feeding tentacles vs the normal polyps? As in, SPS reverts to extending these thin tentacles rather than fleshy polyps during stressful periods?

ca1ore · Apr 21, 2019

Hard to tell for sure, but looks like a vermatid to me. If tips are dead, probably not feeding polyps. Better picture would help.

touchstone88 · Apr 21, 2019

ca1ore said:
Hard to tell for sure, but looks like a vermatid to me. If tips are dead, probably not feeding polyps. Better picture would help.

Before I tried (foolishly) to remove it with a pair of bent tweezers- it appeared a fresh nub of growth, with a small bit of black body and the 2 antennae. After that failed, I noticed a 'string' between the main top branch (main being the afflicted bit) and the lower. Since then the branch shriveled and the... body/shell of the pest is more pronounced, and the branch below it lost its polyp and seems infected too.

My buddy told me to get a Halichores Wrasse but I don't have the time to QT a new fish and like my community fish.

Everything I read on Vermatids says to seal it up with glue or epoxy. Would the worm burrow deeper into the coral? Do I snip it then glue or stick with glue? no pun intended.

malacoda · Apr 21, 2019

That's a vermetid snail whose tube is mostly covered by coral flesh. As the coral grows the snail will lengthen it's tube accordingly so that it's always protruding just a bit beyond the corals edge.

In the first pic in post #9, it looks like there is also another one below and to the left of the first one.

You can either :
a) glue them shut, or
b) break them off at the very base -- which will mean taking some of the coral along with it. You MUST get every last bit of them when you break them off to ensure the snail is killed/removed and not hiding any remnants of the tube base.

If it were me, I'd go with B. As long as the coral is happy and doing well in your tank, it should recover just fine.

Take my word for it, vermetids can be a royal PITA. So much so that I would even sacrifice a coral to keep them out of my next tank.

Once they start to spread, there is no way to fully eliminate them. And the only way to keep them 'under control' is to go through the tank periodically gluing and/or using pliers or tweezers to crush or pluck any visible tubes.

While not a major threat to anything, larger ones can irritate corals when they put their feeding webs out. And it can look a bit unsightly when your rock starts to look like a porcupine.

touchstone88 · Apr 21, 2019

malacoda said:
That's a vermetid snail whose tube is mostly covered by coral flesh. As the coral grows the snail will lengthen it's tube accordingly so that is always protruding just a bit beyond the corals edge.

You can either :
a) glue it shut, or
b) break it off at the very base -- which will mean taking some of the coral along with it. You MUST get every last bit of it when you break it off to ensure the snail is killed/removed and not hiding any remnants of the tube base.

If it were me, I'd go with B. As long as the coral is happy and doing well in your tank, it should recover just fine.

Take my word for it, vermetids can be a royal PITA.

Once they start to spread, there is no way to fully eliminate them. And the only way to keep them 'under control' is to go through the tank periodically gluing and/or using pliers or tweezers to crush or pluck any visible tubes.

While not a major threat to anything, larger ones can irritate corals when they put their feeding webs out. And it can look a bit unsightly when your rock starts to look like a porcupine.

So it's not coincidence that when I first interfere'd with it, the branch below lost its polyp and is black as well- safe to assume it exists between those two branches? The coral is growing, poor PE though, I can attribute this to the Vermatid?

malacoda · Apr 21, 2019

You're description of 'lost it's poly and is black" makes me believe what you actually saw was not a polyp but a vermetid tube with the snail antenna sticking out. Their tubes are reddish when the first form and become dark purple - almost black as they thicken and grow.

When you approached/touched the tube the snail retreated inside to safety making it look like the 'polyp' was gone.

The poor PE most likely isn't due to vermetids. Those are pretty small and their webs will look like a single strand of spider web that's anywhere from 1" to 3 or 4" long. Bigger vermetids could have much bigger webs.

They only put out the webs when they detect food (detritus, coral frenzy, reef roids, etc.) in the water.

If you're unsure or nervous about the health of the coral, you could just super glue the snail tubes shut.

malacoda · Apr 21, 2019

Just to be clear, these two 'branches' are vermetids:

Mike.P · Apr 21, 2019

Hmm. This picture does make me think that it could be a vermetid after all... It's just strange that there's not one filament of web anywhere near it.

@DSC reef what do you think?

touchstone88 · Apr 21, 2019

malacoda said:
Just to be clear, these two 'branches' are vermetids:

Indeed!
Glued.
I'm currently reaching a balance between NO3 and PO4, glad that Im able to rule out the 'weird antennae pest' as a factor- in terms of PE.
Thanks for the guidance!

DSC reef · Apr 21, 2019

Mike.P said:
Hmm. This picture does make me think that it could be a vermetid after all... It's just strange that there's not one filament of web anywhere near it.

@DSC reef what do you think?

That pic looks like a vermetid to me with coral grown over the tube.

touchstone88 · Apr 21, 2019

malacoda said:
That's a vermetid snail whose tube is mostly covered by coral flesh. As the coral grows the snail will lengthen it's tube accordingly so that it's always protruding just a bit beyond the corals edge.

In the first pic in post #9, it looks like there is also another one below and to the left of the first one.

You can either :
a) glue them shut, or
b) break them off at the very base -- which will mean taking some of the coral along with it. You MUST get every last bit of them when you break them off to ensure the snail is killed/removed and not hiding any remnants of the tube base.

If it were me, I'd go with B. As long as the coral is happy and doing well in your tank, it should recover just fine.

Take my word for it, vermetids can be a royal PITA. So much so that I would even sacrifice a coral to keep them out of my next tank.

Once they start to spread, there is no way to fully eliminate them. And the only way to keep them 'under control' is to go through the tank periodically gluing and/or using pliers or tweezers to crush or pluck any visible tubes.

While not a major threat to anything, larger ones can irritate corals when they put their feeding webs out. And it can look a bit unsightly when your rock starts to look like a porcupine.

I'll let the frag color up then go back and clip those branches.